International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, a former German lawyer, may be no singer but he is no stranger to the sentiment behind the song which failed to reach number one in any of the countries in which it was released.

In fact, the office which the 62-year-old runs has been playing that tune ever since he took to the helm in 2013 at one of the most famous sporting organisations on the planet.

The three values of the Olympic movement – friendship, respect and excellence - need little introduction and thanks to the pioneering Pierre de Coubertin, who resuscitated the Games and built the foundations they rest perilously on today. The multi-sport event is among the most revered purely down to the honour which it exudes. On Friday [5 August] Bach will declare the 31st Olympiad, his first as president, officially open but exactly to whom?

The IOC have successfully ensured that Rio 2016, which would be expected to project an image of colour and vitality, will be an event lacking identity and already overshadowed by a series of decisions which run roughshod over its standing within global sport. At the fulcrum of the collapse is Bach's cosy relationship with the key protagonists which draw a cloud over the Games; the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), Russia's President Vladimir Putin, the World Health Organisation and the successful Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid.

Bach has been IOC president since being anointed in 2013Getty Images

Modern-day sport will never be free of doping. The rewards remain too great, the technology too sophisticated and the punishments too insufficient to deter athletes from chancing their arm. Wada are off the pace, not least due to the paltry $15m they receive from the IOC – which represents half of their annual funding. When Olympic television revenue is increasing by 52% and American broadcasters NBC are paying $7.75bn for the next three Olympic Games, their commitment to doping can be truly quantified.

Though the anti-doping authorities cannot surely survive without the IOC surplus, it ensures the Olympic body do not answer to them. Their power and grip on world sport allows them to make up their own rules as go along without the fear of challenge. Pleas to ban the entire Russia Olympic team from Rio were ignored. But athletes – including the valuable whistle-blower Yulia Stepanova - who have previously served doping punishments have been blocked from competition. A clear contravening of the Wada code.

Putin and Bach's close relationship has been scrutinised heavily since Russia avoided a blanket Olympic banGetty Images

Bach and Putin stood shoulder-to-shoulder during the most expensive Winter Olympic Games in history in Sochi – which hosted the doping practises the McLaren report exposed. From the outside looking in, it is clear what the Russia president is getting out of their relationship, but what about Bach? The world's largest country are interested in hosting the Summer Games in 2028.

In another sign that the IOC believe all is rosy in their garden, attention has already turned to Tokyo 2020 where five events have been added to the schedule – with the final list to be confirmed in 2017. With golf and rugby sevens – the new additions for 2016 locked in – some established sports will miss out on being showcased to a lucrative Asian audience, while squash continues to be sidelined.

Skateboarding is one of five sports added to the Olympics in time for TokyoGetty Images

Bach claims the unanimous decision to allow baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing into the Olympics will help attract young viewers, spectators and competitors, but it's a hard sentiment to fathom. Some of the events selected have a thriving market in Asia yet across many parts of the world do not have the infrastructure to justify such a heady billing. Skateboarding is without a recognised world championships, for example. The sporting spectacle, which amid corruption and even doping gives fans something to believe in, is being diluted by the inclusion of events better suited to 'It's a Knockout' rather than a credible competition.

Athletes risk serious illness when competing in the waters around RioGetty Images

Covering an Olympic Games is a duty which should be an exciting prospect for any journalist whether it be track, pool or pitch side, or staying up until the small hours and absorbing the television coverage which is beamed around the world. But the overriding emotion heading into 2016 is one of inconsolable disgust at the way a valued association is being dragged through the mud by the very same IOC bureaucrats, whose executives have been handed a trivial $900 in expenses each day in recession-stricken Rio, who revel in its rewards.

When London 2012 was labelled the best Olympic Games ever, it could easily have been described as British sensationalism. The concern now is that four years ago may represent the last time the event can be associated with even an ounce of credibility. Forgive the hyperbole but, until its integrity is restored, consider this the last contribution regarding a once glowing sporting fraction. The Olympics are dead, long live king Bach.